


Duped

by ColonDentist



Category: Steven Universe - Fandom
Genre: AU, F/F, Slight Aquadot, Vague references to TLC, fanfiction is a blight on our society
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-22
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:29:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22365661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ColonDentist/pseuds/ColonDentist
Summary: Aquamarine thinks to herself after being tricked into committing treason.
Relationships: Aquamarine & Peridot (Steven Universe), Aquamarine/Peridot (Steven Universe)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19





	Duped

**Author's Note:**

> Fair warning, I'm no writer.

Aquamarine slumped into her chair, soliciting a light rubbery squeak. She groaned, pushing a button on the side of the armrest.

The digital screen in front of her changed from a trashy show about humans having screaming matches in fancy regalia into a commercial for lip balm remover.

She hadn't been herself. She hadn't been able to bring herself relax at nights like these. Not since her conversation with the little mutant of a quartz a month ago.  
She had won. She captured the leader of the rebellion, Rose Quartz. All she had to do was deliver her to Homeworld. It should have gone smoothly. In any normal circumstance it should have been the easy part. But whatever synapses were firing in the hybrid gremlin's brain, whatever subtle abnormality what was going on in her gem at the time allowed him to convince, to manipulate her into turning the ship around. 

To betray the Diamonds. To throw away everything she had worked her gem to the core for. 

All because he managed to get into her head.

\- - - 

It had been shortly after she caught the Topazes trying to aid him into escaping, moments away from preparing the escape pod for launch. He had already duped two elite Gems into helping him flee on the promise that they could live a life outside of Homeworld. 'Well', She supposed, "Duped" wasn't the right word. He delivered on that front, in retrospect. "Manipulated" would be the better term. He fast-talked his way into their heart, played on their emotional weaknesses until he had them eating out of the palm of his sweaty, fleshy hand. She groused in her seat. She couldn't blame them. Those Topazes knew how to do their job. But they were the sappy "emotional" types. Their constant fusion didn't help matters. She should have expected as much. They weren't above such trickery as she was.

That's what she thought at the time, anyway.

She took no time smashing the escape pod with her wand and subduing the Topazes. She reminded them of what would happen if the Diamonds knew of their treachery, that job dissatisfaction would be the least of their troubles. They would be lucky to live out the rest of their immortal lives, separated forever. She felt herself soften with the slightest traces of pity when she saw the looks on their faces. Aquamarine didn't have much gripes with her co-worker until now. The topazes kept out of her way and rarely mucked anything up during their many assignments together. It would be a waste of two perfect Gems, Aquamarine reasoned to herself. No. The diamonds didn't need to know of any misconduct. All that had to be done was for Topaz to be reminded of the stakes.

"I'll tell you what, if you stop this ridiculous behaviour, I'll keep my mouth shut. We can go on as if nothing has happened. The Diamonds would have been none the wiser."

Whatever the Topazes response was, was interrupted by the little meat Gemling.

"...How do you know they're not listening now?"

Aquamarine felt a shiver down herself, though she hid it behind a scoff. "Please. Why would in the stars would they bother listening in on us?"

Steven looked panicked for a second, before something clicked in his head.

"You let them know I was coming, right? They know you have the infamous Rose Quartz on board, right?"

"Pfft. Of course, I don't know how things are done on your miserable little dirt bubble with your gaggle of misfits, but us elite Gems have something called "professionalism".

"Then of course this ship has to be bugged somehow."

She knew he was full of it. On a logical level, at least. But the more she thought of it, the more her paranoid mind filled in the spaces. Gemkind was a spacefaring race. In a world as fastidious and tightly ruled as Homeworld, it would make sense for the ships to be bugged. After all, a gaggle of lower Gems left unsupervised except by a Morganite wouldn't do. It also made sense how the occasional Nephrite got busted for treasonous behaviour despite never leaving their shuttle. With public-enemy-number-one aboard this ship, of course the higher-ups would be listening intently. 

Which would mean that she just made a fatal mistake.

"Y-you're bluffing." Aquamarine stated, inwardly cringing at the shakiness of her own voice, essentially giving Steven confirmation he was getting to her.

He put a finger under his chin, accompanied by a coy look of uncertainty on his face. "Gee, I might be right on the money. I mean, didn't they keep the transcripts between Peridot and me? They went out of their way to collect a handful of specific humans on a planet with over seven billion of us. If Homeworld is able to do that, then I'm assuming they have the foresight to keep some eyes and ears where they'd need to, right?"

She was trying very hard to play off his words with derision, but it was clear to everyone in the room that she was buying it. The Topazes and the other human who had been quaking behind Steven the entire time had also bought it, sneaking uncertain looks around random, innocuous corners of the ship.

She shook her head. She was the pinnacle of all Aquamarines. She would not let herself be fooled. The Diamonds kept a tight ship, metaphorically speaking. However, this was just the desperate yarn of a defeated traitor.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud ringing noise coming from the central hub followed by a mechanical voice.

"incoming call from Yellow and Blue Diamond. Call Urgent. Please answer immediately. Failure to comply is a breach of conduct."

\- - -

In retrospect, that was the standard message to hear when contacted by a Diamond. At the time though, everything lined up. Her ship was bugged. The Diamonds themselves heard what she had said. She was going to be shattered. She hit the "reject call" button, knocked off the autopilot and set an immediate course back to Earth, screaming and generally acting on adrenaline for the first half of the return flight.

It was without a doubt the stupidest thing she had ever done in her entire existence.

Yet, she couldn't find it in her being to regret it. She worried on it a lot, however. Many nights where the Topazes were in their station, practising what humans call "sleeping", were riddled with anxiety. She couldn't help but think of the inevitable consequences of her supremely boneheaded move to come back and bite her in the Gemstone. She feared what the Diamonds would do, what would happen to herself and the Topazes. Although there was a small part of her that hated herself for thinking this, she also worried for the others. The permafusion. The Pearl. The undercooked Amethyst.

Peridot.

In the past months she spent here in her functionally useless ship, kept under near constant watch by at least one of the Crystal Gems and devoid of her wand, Peridot was arguably the first good thing to happen since she committed career-suicide. Peridot was the only Gem besides Steven to treat her with anything other than wariness. The first thing she did was rewire her ship with basic internet and TV coverage after all, after explaining to her what internet and TV was, of course. Essentially a dulled down version of homeworld’s database, with hours of needless yet engrossing content.

Looking back on it, it was arguably more cunning way of keeping her captive than the method Pearl originally suggested when she returned. “Just bubble her. Or lock her in the bathroom! It worked before!”. Of course, Peridot wasn’t the kind of gem to think that far ahead. She was almost endearing like that. ‘Poor thing was lucky to last as long as she did on Homeworld’ she thought snidely.

‘Then again.’ She thought, ‘She did defy a Diamond to her face. Hmm. Probably all the better for her to be off that planet. A goody-too-shoes like that would end up hiding in a cavern somewhere for the rest of her existence.’ The thought left a bitter taste in her mouth.

Her screen pinged. A tiny green text box flashed on the bottom of her screen.

Aquamarine made a catlike grin and hit a button. The screen changed to show a flustered peridot carrying her phone in one hand, and a bag of random trinkets in her other.  
“I’m sorry it’s late, but Lapis is having one of her ‘Alone Time’ moments. I couldn’t perhaps take shelter in your ship for the night, could I?’

Aquamarine put a hand on chin. “Hmm. I don’t know, that is an awfully big favour. I’m horribly busy.”

“You’re still watching that channel where the humans fight to the death in poofy dresses, aren’t you?”

Aquamarine made a coy 'hmm'. “I might be. I might not be.”

“Oh C’mon!”

“Alright, alright. Fine. Just keep it down, the last thing I want to deal with is a groggy Topaz.”

**Author's Note:**

> I swear the premise reads like a crackfic.


End file.
